Heather Carson » Reclaimed & Created

Reclaimed and Created. These are my watchwords. I'm all about reclaiming good things from the past and creating happy things for the future.

I love to reclaim. I have a passion for vintage goods, simple design, and love to re-mix old stuff into new things. I love giving thrifted things new life. I always have my eyes open for a cool find. Reclaiming to me also means taking control of as much of my life as I can. So try to find as many things as possible that I can make, treat, grow, cook, sew, or raise myself. I think of it as reclaiming a bit of my grandmother's days and making them work for me and my family.

I love to create. My memories of childhood are filled with making things. I was always working on some sort of art or craft project- and then sometimes trying to sell them to my poor neighbors. Or trying to get my brothers and sisters to join me in some sort of grand undertaking. I'm pretty sure I drove my poor parents crazy with all the schemes I had. I think I rearranged and redecorated my room monthly. To their amazing credit- they let me do it.

I tried on a few different career paths in college from advertising to musical dance theater. When I finally found the school of design, I fell in love. And found my home. I thirstily drank in the different courses offered there. I studied photography, graphic design, illustration, interior design, and even a bit of industrial design. It was the perfect program for me and I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Design. I love helping people with their branding, creating designs and patterns for surfaces, and illustrations for many applications.

I am a wife to a great husband and a mom to six fun kids- three boys and three girls, who happen to be triplets. They all inspire me beyond words. Together, we are trying to carve out a little bit of country into our suburban world. What a journey we are all on together! Surviving the struggles, laughing, crying, and enjoying triumphs that come with life and hopefully getting stronger in the process.

Category Archives: Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week & SIX new additions to our home

youcreate

Helloooooooo long lost Blog Land! How’s the weather? Not that Blog Land itself has been lost, heavens no. A peek into my little reader will squash that notion. Hello, I have THOUSANDS of unread posts. Sometimes I wish blog readers could really READ them to you. Like audio books but for blogs. Then you could catch up on all your blogs while doing dishes or something. No, Blog Land isn’t lost, I just haven’t found my way here too often lately. I was going through a little blog rebellion. Have you ever done that? It sometimes seems that it’s all been done before. Makes me feel kind of panicky about blogging sometimes. So, I just don’t. I want to, but I don’t. I’m like that. And that gives me blog guilt. Or BLOGUILT as I like to call it. I tweeted that the other day. That blogging brings on guilt. It made me wonder if anyone else feels this way? Blogging should be about creation. That’s what I think anyway. Creation of good ideas, good thoughts, good energy. Every little bit of good put out into the world helps, right? But sometimes I find myself just looking at things others have created and then it stops me from creating myself. Why is that?

My husband introduced me to the writings of Wallace Wattles. He has some pretty amazing insights. For example, the quote for this week. I LOVE that. He says that every person on the earth is to create something. That we don’t have to compete for what’s already been created. There is enough and to spare. The journey is finding out what it is we can create with the unique materials that each of us have been given and then doing it.

This blog is a chronicle of my adventures in art, creativity, life, motherhood. Hopefully, it will start to reflect a truer sense of that. So, want to see what we did this weekend?

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Got chicks! Six little chirpers named Penny Pigwidgeon, Gracie May, Ethel Rose, Lucy Jane, Ming Ming, and Little Red. My kids are in heaven. We have to proclaim “chicken time-outs” every so often to give them a little break from the many hands that want to love them.

Quote of the Week

This past weekend I visited a museum. One of the exhibits was some photographs by Dorthea Lange. This photo was one of them- a young mother from Gunlock, Utah. All the photos were glimpses into the real lives of people from this small rural town in the mid 50′s. I loved the way she captured the simplest things and how they came alive in her lens. It was so interesting to me to see that bit of the world’s history through her eyes.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately that what we choose to write about, what we choose to create or make, or photograph, becomes the history for future generations. That can be kind of daunting. Seems like there is always someone better, more qualified, or already creating what I want to create. What is there for me to contribute that hasn’t already been done? But I think Dorthea took the images that spoke to her. What if she had decided to leave the photographing to the other photographers? She told the story of the world as she saw it. I think that’s what matters. There is a story for everyone to tell.

Quote of the Week

I hope you have a wonderful week filled with sweet and simple things! It snowed this past weekend and our furnace is acting up so we kind of huddled close this weekend as a family. We tried out our new yogurt maker. We still have some kinks to work out to get it just right. But it was fun. Such a small thing. I loved seeing the little glass jars all lined up in our fridge.

My husband teases me about how happy glass jars make me. I’ve been slowing gathering glass containers for our pantry to keep all of our bulk foods- grains, pastas, dried fruits, nuts, etc. I love opening our pantry to see the mishmash of different glass containers. I’m crazy I know. We also made bread and cooked fresh cracked wheat cereal for our family. I love simple times like this.

Quote of the Week

Happy Valentines Day!

Quote of the Week

Getting ready for Valentines day? Do you do anything fun with your family? Valentines day means sugar cookie baking to me. That and making elaborate valentines boxes for the valentine box contest. I used to dream up fancy receptacles and my loving and kind parents would allow me to attempt them. I couldn’t wait to get to school to see what others had made from their cardboard, glue, and colored paper. And glitter. Always lots of glitter.

We are trying to get well so we can get into the spirit of LOVE month. I’ve got the Michael Bublé song FEVER running through my brain on repeat. “You give me FEVER!” So far, February has brought a lot of FEVERS of the average variety not the love struck kind. Not as much fun I tell you. Not as much fun. I’m still feeling under the weather and will try to get back to more regular posting as soon as possible. I also think it’s pretty pathetic that I have a house full of cool things for my shop but only 1 poor lonely little thing is listed. I need to get on that too.

But the quote today? I believe that 100%! I hope you have a wonderful week!

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Just a friendly reminder that any designs or projects I post here, unless otherwise credited, are copywritten my me. I love links. Feel free to use an image or two from my posts on your site. Just make sure you link back to me. Thanks!
Welcome to my blog about life, art, and reclaiming the good things from the past while creating happy things for the future. Thanks for reading!
A few of my FAVORITES:

Good Look Cookbook
IS•LY
Sarah Jane Studios
A Little Hut
Maya Made
My Happy Little Life
Progressive Pioneer
Soule Mama